- Teachers’ union urges Mnangagwa not to consent to 2.5% proposal
- Artuz says tax will divide civil servants
THE Amalgamated Rural Teachers’ Union of Zimbabwe (Artuz) on Thursday made a passionate call for the Apex Council (the highest body that represents civil servants) to confront President Emmerson Mnangagwa on his government’s mooted 2.5% tax on all civil servants beginning March.
The tax is meant to harness resources so that garrison shops stocked with cheaper goods are created exclusively for those in the security sector.
Artuz is worried that once such a move succeeded, the entire public service would be rocked by serious divisions, with the dire consequences of making the country ungovernable.
Artuz president Obert Masaraure said Mnangagwa should stall what he called a primitive initiative by the Cabinet.
“We urge Mnangagwa to read and block this chicanery which overtly threatens to compromise the efficiency of the government,” Masaraure said.
In a statement released today, Artuz said the move by government was an attempt to set civil servants against each other.
“The 2.5% tax imposed on civil servants to feed the military is a sick attempt to set civil servants against each other.”
Masaraure also said the move by Cabinet was meant to portray the security sector – both in its own view and that of other civil servants – as more important.
“The move by Cabinet is to turn civil servants against each other because the tax will be used to fund garrison shops, where the security forces will be accessing subsidised basic commodities while others civil servants suffer,” he said.
Masaraure also alleged that the security service had generally turned down the scheme, labelling it as unrealistic and divisive.
The Artuz president further said civil servants were already earning slave wages, making it hard for them to survive and taxing them more would worsen their circumstances.
Meanwhile, the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe national executive resolved to urgently mobilise teachers to resist the grinding 2.5 percent tax.
